Internet Protection For Local Education Authority

Sophos is providing web security for nursery schools as well as primary and secondary schools in the Slough Borough Council District in England

IT security and data protection firm Sophos has announced that Slough Borough Council Local Education Authority has invested in Sophos Web Security and Control to improve online security across 48 nursery, primary and secondary schools.

As the council's main priority is to protect students against the growing number of web threats with the appropriate online security measures, an easily enabled, enhanced filtering system was needed. Before a borough-wide solution was deployed, the technical team at SBC conducted a trial across a sample of primary and secondary schools, comparing different filtering systems.

After testing Sophos's web appliance against offerings from leading competitors, the IT team at SBC opted for Sophos's security solution as they felt it gave them the best control over the entire filtering system. 48 appliances were then rolled out across all schools during the summer holiday period with the help of the Sophos support team so that it would be in place for the new school year.

Having installed Sophos's product, SBC has benefited from an efficient and trustworthy system which has boosted staff confidence when it comes to protecting 20,000 students from potential threats posed by the web. The schools have since experienced better control over e-safety measures, allowing different levels of filtering for a variety of user groups; all schools are now compliant with the BECTA guidelines.

John Worgan, ICT Advisor for Slough Borough Council LEA commented: "Before discovering what Sophos had to offer, we had problems as pupils of all ages, as well as staff had a single common level of filtering, limiting access to web-based resources. In addition, the technical team was wasting a lot of valuable time with filtering and online security issues, especially in our secondary schools. We are very confident with Sophos's web security solution and all the schools have been happy with the results to date."

"The dangers posed from browsing the web present a significant threat, particularly to young students," said Ciaran Rafferty, VP UK&I at Sophos. "Many schools are ill-equipped to deal with evolving issues of internet safety which is why an effective online security solution is crucial. Slough Borough Council LEA is now fully equipped to deal with any potential threats and have a reliable filtering system so that students can use the internet with confidence."